Garland Wins!

(August 21)

Short take:  Eureka, a pulse!

Now that only the corpse of the '01 Sox is playing ball, it was a pleasant surprise to find at least Jon Garland, Jeff Liefer, and Chris Singleton still have a pulse.  A solid effort breaks the losing streak, the Sox 6-1 winners at Kansas City.

Hey, we're only 8.5 games... oh, never mind!

The game got off to an inauspicious start.  Defensive specialist Royce Clayton's throwing error led to an unearned run and first inning lead for Kansas City.  Five losses in a row, here we come!

The Sox came back to tie it with Ray Durham's rbi double in the third inning and took the lead in the fourth with an rbi groundout by Chris Singleton.  

Meanwhile Sox starter Jon Garland was settling in.  He scattered seven hits in seven innings work and shutout the Royals.  Sox bats played long ball to extend the lead, Jose Valentin, Jeff Liefer, and Chris Singleton each slugging taters.

Jerry Manuel needs to bench Durham more often.  The slumping lead-off man returned to the line up and went 2 for 5 with a run scored and a ribbie.  Firstbasemen Liefer went 3 for 4, and Chris Singleton went 2 for 4 with two ribbies.

Anybody else notice Royce Clayton's "hot" bat has cooled off?  His 1 for 4 lame performance at the plate matched neatly his error in the field.  He's settled in with a cozy .231 batting average.  Can Hawk Harrelson spare us any more talk about Clayton's batting average since May 31?

Bob Howry and Keith Foulke each pitched scoreless innings to bring home the win.  Who wudda thunk it?